Denver Permit Review Times Reduced by 33 Percent

On July 15, 2024, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, alongside city agencies, announced a 33% reduction in residential permitting times, surpassing the goal of a 30% reduction. This achievement is part of a broader effort to streamline permitting processes, aiming to cut permitting times for both residential and commercial construction by 30% by the end of the year.

Earlier in 2024, Mayor Johnston identified reducing review times for residential and commercial permits as a top priority. A multi-agency “Tiger Team” has been working to innovate and improve the permitting process based on feedback from staff and customers. So far, these efforts have successfully decreased permitting timelines for single-family and duplex projects.

Mayor Johnston praised the collaborative efforts, emphasizing the positive impact on residents and builders. The city has also reduced commercial and multi-family project permitting times by 11%.

Innovations contributing to these improvements include:

• Adjusted valuation thresholds for commercial projects, allowing for shorter review times.
• Streamlined building permits for single-family and duplex projects, reducing the number of permits needed.
• A user-friendly daily inspections ETA website to reduce call volume and improve efficiency.
• Expanded criteria for the SolarAPP+ program, expediting solar project approvals.

CPD Executive Director Manish Kumar highlighted ongoing efforts to enhance the customer experience and achieve further reductions in commercial review times by year-end. The city will continue to monitor progress and address any variables affecting permit timelines.

Reading between the lines on permitting times

An important detail to note about the good news that Denver’s Community Planning and Development department announced is, “To date in 2024, permitting timelines have decreased by 33 percent for residential projects (combined average of intermediate and main residential projects) compared to last year.” It may be easy to assume that the majority of intermediate residential projects were able to improve their permitting times compared to the more complicated major residential projects, providing an overall better percentage result.

What is a Major and Intermediate Residential Project

let’s take a closer look at what a main or Major Residential project constitutes as versus an intermediate residential project. According to the Denver’s Community Planning website resources:

• Major Residential Projects are characterized by new home construction, home additions, ADUs, and landmark projects that exceeds 400 square feet or more in new construction
• Intermediate Residential Projects are type approved submittals and additions that are less than 400 square feet

What are Denver Permit Review Times Quoted At Right Now?

Denver’s Community Planning and Development department has wonderful resources and tools available to the public to inform them on their permitting process. One of which can be found here under their Average Plan Review Times page. This page contains a visual on projects that received permit approval in the last 30 days. At the time of this writing, Intermediate Residential Projects expect about 99 days in time to permit approval. Major Residential Projects expect about 277 days in time to permit approval.

Are Denver Permit Times Really Improving?

While the average time to permit approval that is found on Denver’s website still seems to say otherwise, there are improvements made to Denver Permit Review Process. To paint a better picture of how difficult of a problem builders and homeowners faced in the past, Denver’s Permit Review Times for Major Residential Projects even exceeded 300 days a couple of years ago. Even at the end of 2023, Denver’s review times still were in the upper 200 day ranges. Still, even here at Sustainable Design Build there have been client projects that were surprised to find there permit applications approved much more quickly than expected. There is evidence of how effective the new efforts and staffing is within the development community. 

How can design-build firms help with long permit times?

Design-build companies, like Sustainable Design Build, can play a crucial role in addressing Denver’s long permit review times by leveraging their integrated approach to streamline project management and enhance collaboration with city agencies. By combining project management and communication to a single professional point of contact, Sustainable Design Build can ensure that plans are more thoroughly vetted and aligned with city requirements before submission, reducing the likelihood of delays caused by incomplete or non-compliant applications. If you have a custom home construction project that you would like insight on, SDB is here to help answer all of your questions.